Mini Fruit Tarts

Fruit tarts are one of my all time fav desert and i've finally decided to experiment on them. I am bringing them for potluck tmr!!I've always thought that it is rly complicated to make one. Come to think of it now, it's actually not too difficult. Well, it cld be a little troublesome but it's rly worth it because they taste marvellous! There are three stages to bake fruit tarts. 1: The crust, 2: the pastry cream, 3: fruits topping. I got my recipe from a few sources [ Joy of baking etc... ]



1:Sweet Pastry Crust
Ingredients: (makes about 24 mini tarts)

195g of All purpose flour
1/8 tsp Salt
113g unsalted butter
50g of white sugar
1 large egg

Steps:
1. Whisk flour and salt in a bowl
2. Using an electric mixer/hand mixer, beat butter until soften. Add sugar and beat until light and fluffy.
3. Gradually add the beaten egg until just incorporated.
4. Add flour mixture all at once and mix ntil it forms a ball
5. flatten pastry into a disk and cover with cling wrap
6. Refrigerate for 15-30mins/ Put in freezer for about 10-15mins
7. Lightly butter/ spray with non stuck cooking spray onto the mini tart liners.
8. Evenly pat the chilled pastry onto the bottom n up the sides of each tart liner.
9. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the frezer for about 15 mins. Meanwhile preheat oven to 205degree celcius. Lightly prick botoom of pastry crust with the times of a fork. ( Prevent dough from puffing up.)
10. Pop the tartpan into the Oven. Bake for about 5 mins. Reduce temperature to 180 degreeC. Continue to bake the crust until lightly golden brown.
11. Lightly coat the crust with egg white to prevent the crust from turning soggy by the pastry cream.

Tip: Because we are baking mini fruit tarts, we have to check on them frequently to ensure they dont overbake and turn too brown. Mine were cooked for an additional 5 mins when the temperature was reduced.


2: Pastry Cream
Ingredients:

200 ml of milk
2tbsp Corn flour
5 tbsp sugar
2 egg yolks
2 tsp Vanilla essence

Steps:
1: Whisk the egg in a bowl. Add sugar and corn flour and beat until smooth and creamy. ( Dont let mixture sit for too long)
2. Meanwhile, bring the milk and add 2 tsp of vanilla essence just to boiling/ until milk starts to foam up. Remove from heat and slowly add to egg mixture.
3. Whisk constantly to prevent egg from curdling.
4. Transfer mixtured to a double boiler and whisk constantly until mixtre becomes thick.
5. Pour into a clean bowl and immediately cover with a cling wrap with the cling wrap touching the pastry cream and leave it to cool to room temperature/refrigerate it. Beat/whisk before using to avoid lumps.

Tip: Step 4 is a v important and tricky step. Make sure you use a double boiler. It prevents the mixture from curdling. Double boiler prevents the mixture from having direct contact with the heat. I did not use a double boiler for my 1st attempt and my pastry cream turnedut to be harder and it feels a little liike scramble eggs. It is important that when the mixture starts to thicken, remove the mixture away rom the double boiler immediately and continue whisking until it has a constant consistency.

3: Assembling
Ingredients: Fruits ( Strawberry, kiwi, peach, grapes etc...)

Steps:
1. Apply the pastry cream onto the empty tartlet and assemble the fruits on the tartlet.